We Need better HIV Meds

l know we have gone past the bad old days of HIV as a death penalty...
in 25 years of HIV treatments, we are no closer to a cure that 25 years ago..

so lets move onto life saving meds...

the treatments in the past 2 years have improved in leaps and bounds so much to the 18 tabs 3 times of day treatments of the ole days,

but Dr Bob we need better meds that can counter resistance and are more durable,
with far less side effects...

am l dreaming that one day meds like this will ever be avail ???

pls look into your crstal ball and tell me when the next golden era of Hiv meds will surface for us...

Take care Dr Bob and l know we will all get by this together

Response from Dr. Frascino

Hi,

". . . So let's move onto life saving meds . . . ." Well, that's exactly where most of the treatment research efforts (and dollars) have been applied.

". . . but Dr. Bob we need better meds that can counter resistance and are more durable, with far less side effects . . . ." Check! No argument there. Do you happen to have any of these? I know about 33,000,000 folks who need them.

". . . Am I dreaming that one day meds like this will ever be avail???" Perhaps. Please note, we don't have "meds like this" for cancer, asthma, diabetes, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and a host of other ailments that have been around a lot longer than HIV. However, don't stop dreaming. Dreams can come true.

". . . Look into your crystal ball and tell me when the next golden era of HIV meds will surface . . . ." Hmm . . . my crystal ball advises me that that era just occurred with the development and release of a CCR5 antagonist (Maraviroc), and integrase inhibitor (Isentress), a new non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (Intelence) and a new protease inhibitor (Prezista), all within the past year or so. The next wave of new and/or novel drugs is quite far down the pipeline. What we need to do now is learn how to better use what we currently have in the most effective way while continuing to fund research, not only for better, more tolerable life-sustaining therapies, but also for a cure.

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